What are TurboTax’s Up to Five Days Early Refund Delivery options?

TurboTax has two offerings that can get you your federal refund up to 5 days earlier than the IRS would deliver it to you directly.

• Get your federal refund up to 5 Days Early¹ in any bank account² for a fee.
  • You won’t be charged the early refund delivery fee if TurboTax can’t deliver your federal refund early.
• Get your federal refund up to 5 days early³ in a Credit Karma Money^TM checking account⁴ for no additional cost.

Up to 5 days early works by delivering your refund up to 5 days before the IRS is able to deliver funds to your bank account. For example, if the IRS indicates that your refund will arrive in your account in 15 days from the date your tax return was accepted, our up to 5 days early service will get your refund to your account within 10-14 days.

You can get your refund deposited in your own bank account for a fee deducted from your tax refund. If the money isn’t delivered at least 1 day early, you won’t be charged a fee for this service.

For most filers, the IRS delivers a refund within 21 days if you select direct deposit as your refund method.

You may be able to receive your federal refund early through your bank, credit union or other financial institution. Terms, fees, and delivery dates may vary. Check with your financial institution for details.

Up to 5 Days Early into your preferred bank account

TurboTax’s Up to 5 Days Early refund delivery gives you the flexibility to have your federal refund deposited into your preferred bank account up to 5 days earlier than the date your refund would have arrived if sent from the IRS directly - for a fee.  The fee would be taken out of your refund amount only if delivered at least 1 day early.

TurboTax will email you when your refund is on its way, confirming that it will be delivered to you up to 5 days early and providing you with a breakdown of your refund amount, including any TurboTax fees.

Up to 5 Days Early - Credit Karma Money checking account

When you open and deposit your refund into a Credit Karma Money checking account, your tax refund could be deposited up to 5 days early for no additional cost.

With this option, TurboTax works with Credit Karma and MVB Bank, Member FDIC, to get your account information to the IRS so they can deposit your refund into your account up to five days earlier. You can use the Credit Karma refund tracker to see when your federal refund is expected to hit your account. Learn more about the other features of a Credit Karma Money checking account. 

Eligibility for early refund delivery

With both refund options, there are some situations where you might not be able to receive your refund early. These include not having a sufficient refund amount, IRS delays, or your bank’s policies. However, if you choose Up to 5 Days Early into your preferred bank account, and don’t receive your refund early, you won’t be charged the service fee.                    

Please note that you may also be able to receive your federal refund early through your bank, credit union or other financial institution. Terms, fees, and delivery dates may vary. Check with your financial institution for details.

When to expect your refund

Once you receive confirmation that your federal return has been accepted, you'll be able to start tracking your refund at the IRS Where's My Refund site. After the IRS accepts your return, a refund typically arrives within about 21 days.

With Up to 5 Days Early to your preferred bank account, you’ll have your federal refund deposited into your account up to 5 days earlier than the standard tax refund electronic deposit from the IRS.

Once the IRS approves your refund, TurboTax will be notified and we’ll attempt to transfer your refund to your bank account. TurboTax will then send you an email letting you know if we were able to successfully deliver your refund early or if we were unable to expedite your refund. If we were successfully able to deliver your refund early, you can expect to see your refund in your bank account the same day you received an email from us.

If we were unable to expedite your refund, your refund will be delivered by the date provided in the IRS Where’s My Refund site and you will not be charged for . You will also see a notice that “We could not expedite your refund. No early refund fee was charged” as part of your TurboTax refund tracker.

For more information on how to track your federal refund, see this article.

Why was my Up to 5 Days Early refund unsuccessful?

In order to deliver your refund to you early, the IRS needs to communicate your refund amount and expected refund delivery date to TurboTax, often referred to as the refund settlement date or the date you would have received the refund had you received it directly from the IRS. Unfortunately TurboTax didn't receive the information when expected and it impacted our ability to provide the Up to 5 Days Early service. Customers who don't receive their refund up to 5 days early will receive their refund on the date they would have received it had it been sent to them directly from the IRS. The Up to 5 days Early service doesn't delay the delivery of the refund.

Other reasons you may not have received your refund up to 5 days early include:

• If the IRS offsets your refund, reducing your refund to less than the minimum amount for Up to 5 Days Early. More information about refund offsets can be found here.
• Some banks do not accept Real Time Payment (RTP) or Same Day ACH transfers. Check to see if your bank accepts these.
• Some banks put a limit on the size of transfers they are able to process. If your refund exceeds your bank's maximum threshold, we will be unable to deliver your refund up to 5 days early.

Since we were unable to successfully deliver your refund early, you were not charged for the Up to 5 Days Early service and your refund will be deposited in your bank account by the date you would have received the refund had you received it directly from the IRS.

Why is TurboTax is holding onto my refund?

No money is received at the Bank prior to the date the IRS delivers funds to your bank account, often referred to as the refund settlement date.  A “settlement date” is the day when money is transferred from the treasury into the tax filer’s bank account. Intuit does not have access to your tax refund before the settlement date. When Intuit is notified of the customer’s refund amount and the settlement date from the IRS, typically five days prior to the settlement of the refund, Intuit provides the customer access to the refund amount while Intuit waits for the refund to fully settle at the Bank.

My bank allows RTP and same day ACH, why haven’t I received it?

Our Up to 5 Days Early offer is subject to the IRS communicating your refund amount and expected refund delivery date to TurboTax, often referred to as the refund settlement date. Unfortunately, If TurboTax was unable to get your refund information from the IRS in time, we are unable to provide early access to your refund amount using Real Time Payment (RTP) or Same Day ACH. 

If we were unable to successfully deliver your refund early, you will not be charged for the Up to 5 Days Early service.

What happens to my refund if TurboTax is unable to deliver it via direct deposit?

If TurboTax is unable to deliver your refund via direct deposit, we will send you a check, issued by Intuit, for the full amount of your refund, minus any fees. The check will be mailed to the address on your federal tax return.

1 - Up to 5 Days Early to Your Bank Account: Personal taxes only. Your federal tax refund will be deposited to your selected bank account up to 5 days before the refund settlement date provided by the IRS (the date your refund would have arrived if sent from the IRS directly). The receipt of your refund up to 5 Days Early is subject to IRS submitting refund information to us at least 5 days before the refund settlement date. IRS does not always provide refund settlement information 5 days early. You will not be eligible to receive your refund up to 5 Days Early if (1) you take a Refund Advance loan, (2) IRS delays payment of your refund, or (3) your bank’s policies do not allow for same-day payment processing. Up to 5 Days Early fee will be deducted directly from your refund prior to being deposited to your bank account. If your refund cannot be delivered at least 1 day early, you will not be charged the Up to 5 Days Early fee. Up to 5 Days Early program may change or be discontinued at any time.

Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc., licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services.  For more information about Intuit Payments' money transmission licenses, please visit https://www.intuit.com/legal/licenses/payment-licenses/.

2 - Up to 5 Days Early Guarantee: If your federal refund is not deposited into your selected bank account at least 1 day before the IRS refund settlement date (the date it would have arrived if sent from the IRS directly), then you will not pay the Up to 5 Days Early fee. See Terms of Service for more details.

3 - Credit Karma Money up to 5 days early: If you choose to pay your tax preparation fee with TurboTax using your federal tax refund or if you choose to take the Refund Advance loan, you will not be eligible to receive your refund up to 5 days early. 5-day early program may change or discontinue at any time. Up to 5 days early access to your federal tax refund is compared to standard tax refund electronic deposit and is dependent on and subject to IRS submitting refund information to the bank before release date. IRS may not submit refund information early.
4 - Credit Karma Money Spend (checking): Credit Karma is not a bank. Banking services for Credit Karma Money accounts provided by MVB Bank, Inc., Member FDIC. Maximum balance and transfer limits apply.